Method and apparatus for laser scribing glass sheet substrate coatings
AssigneeFirst Solar, Inc.
InventorsFrank A. Borgeson, Joseph J. Hanak, Norman L. Helman, Kenneth R. Hecht
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Abstract
A method and apparatus (42) for laser scribing coatings on glass sheet substrates by conveying the substrate adjacent a laser source (83) that provides a pulsed laser beam (84) with a wavelength at a near-infrared fundamental frequency and having a frequency in the range of 50 to 100 kilohertz and a pulse duration in the range of 8 to 70 nanoseconds, and by reflecting the beam by an XYZ galvanometer controlled mirror system (90) toward an uncoated surface of the substrate for passage therethrough to the coating on the other surface to provide overlapping ablations through the coating and scribing at a speed of at least 1000 millimeters per second.
Claims40
An apparatus for laser scribing comprising:
- a laser source;
- and
- a system configured to direct a laser beam generated by the laser source toward an uncoated surface of a glass sheet substrate for passage therethrough to a coating on another surface to scribe a portion of the coating.
An apparatus for laser scribing comprising:
- a plurality of pulsed laser sources for scribing at different power levels;
- and
- a plurality of directing systems for directing the laser beams through an uncoated side of a substrate for scribing a coated side of the substrate at different layers.
A method for laser scribing comprising conveying a glass sheet substrate having an uncoated surface and a coated surface opposite the uncoated surface along a direction of conveyance adjacent a laser source that provides a laser beam, and directing the laser beam toward the uncoated surface of the glass sheet substrate through the uncoated surface, and to the coating on the other side of the substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.